Evaluation of a Novel Antibiotic Teaching Resource
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
Evaluation of a Novel Antibiotic Teaching Resource Angharad P. Davies 1
# The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Antimicrobial resistance presents a major challenge for healthcare and education of future prescribers is critical. Integrated medical courses allow more limited time for teaching the science of clinical microbiology, which underpins antimicrobial prescribing, making this a difficult topic for students. An innovative educational resource based on a game was created and evaluated in medical student teaching. Most students reported that the game assisted learning. However, testing showed that recall did not improve after using the resource. Student perceptions of resource efficacy may not correlate with test scores. The longer-term positive effect of enhanced student engagement is more difficult to measure. Keywords Antimicrobials . Antimicrobial resistance . Teaching . Educational methods . Evaluation
Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the major challenges facing modern healthcare. Indeed the World Health Organization and World Bank cite this as one of the biggest crises facing the world today [1, 2]. When considering prescribing any drug, a balance must be struck between the likely benefit to the patient and the possible harm in terms of toxicity. With antibiotics, there is an additional consideration, namely the interests of society and future patients, in terms of resistant organisms that might result. This makes antibiotic prescribing uniquely complex and education of prescribers is vital in order to ensure proper antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). For a proper understanding of antimicrobial use, some underpinning knowledge of basic clinical microbiology is required. Unfortunately, the profound pressure on teaching time in the medical curriculum, especially in 4-year graduate-entry courses, means that in many medical schools, it is difficult to find sufficient time for clinical science teaching. A survey of UK medical schools carried out in 2014 by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy found that time devoted to antimicrobial-related teaching ranged between as few as 12
* Angharad P. Davies [email protected] 1
Institute of Life Science, Swansea University Medical School & Public Health Wales, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
and up to 249 h out of 5000-h teaching time in a typical 5year course [3]. As a result of this and the complexity of the subject, antibiotic prescribing is an area that students and junior doctors particularly struggle with. New and engaging ways of teaching are necessary to better teach this complex area of medicine in a crowded curriculum. ‘Top Trumps’® is a popular children’s card game now available commercially on myriad themes, from Dinosaurs to Harry Potter. Its precursor, ‘Quartets’ was originally devised in the 1960s as an educational tool for children. Success at the game relies on remembering the relative scores of various features of each item (e.g. Tyrannosaurus Rex scores highly for ferocity and Diplodocus s
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